MU Shows Little Films That Pack a Big Wallop

By Carla Di Fonzo

What could a film only a minute long possibly convey to an audience? Scott Conrad can show you.

The Millersville University event coordinator and assistant professor said the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, scheduled for tonight in Myers Auditorium, will include films that are – among other things, brief.

But make no mistake, he said, these short movies and documentaries pack a wallop.

“Some are only a minute long, some are 20 minutes long,” he said. “But they stay with you forever. You wouldn’t believe what you could pack into such a short amount of time.”

Conrad speaks from experience, having attended previous Black Maria festivals.

“You walk out blown away by the experience and not sure about what you saw,” he said. “All the images get filed away. Then like, 10 years later, you’ll find yourself walking to your car or something else completely normal, and suddenly a memory of the festival will just trigger. It changes your perspective of film forever.”

The Black Maria (pronounced “ma-RYE-uh”) Film and Video Festival is an annual touring collection of international and award-winning short films that began in 1981.

Founders designed the festival to bring attention to independent, cutting-edge work. The event is named after inventor Thomas Edison’s Black Maria Film Studio (or the Kinetographic Theater) built in 1893 near his laboratories in West Orange, N.J.

Conrad, who organized the festival at MU, said he selected the films that will be shown tonight starting at 7 p.m.

“You get to pick from their batch of award-winners,” he said. “Wherever Black Maria goes around the country, there’s always a different line-up of films. We’ll have over 16 showing in the auditorium.”

Conrad said the short films he picked will include “Rehearsal for Retirement” by Phil Solomon.

“The director approached the film with video game imagery in mind,” he said. “You have these actors, looking out of this world talking about life and death. It’s very interesting.

“And then there’s Uncle Ma’an,’ about an Iraqi-based family told through stop-animation sequences,” Conrad said. “Another film is called Ode to a Steeltown,’ about steel mills disappearing in Pennsylvania.”

After the films are shown a panel discussion will be led by Black Maria assistant director Louis Libitz.

“Originally, we were scheduled to get the festival’s founder (John Columbus) to speak here at MU,” Conrad said. “But the same night we’re holding the festival, he’ll be at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where another Black Maria festival is going on.”

Conrad said the festival is not just for film students.

“I want the whole community to come,” he said. “MU’s resources were intended to share with everyone, and I think people can benefit from seeing these short films.”

And while the films are independent, unconventional and in may cases, completely off-kilter, Conrad said they offer a nice change of pace from Hollywood blockbusters.

“You’ll get exposed to films with a expressionistic side, a humanist sensibility, with lots of surprises,” he said. “You’ll get to see how effective a documentary really can be.”

He said the independent spirit of the films can also encourage viewers to make their own movies.

“The directors are independent, and they often use methods that would be available to any of us,” he said. “But then again, you’ll also see the years of experience and intelligence behind their work – qualities that not everyone can mimic.”

In the end, Conrad said, these films, like all good art, can feed the mind.

“Getting exposed to thoughtful art makes you educated and a well- rounded citizen,” he said.

The Black Maria Film and Video Festival, sponsored by Millersville University’s Department of Art and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, is free and open to the public.

The event will run from 7 to 10 p.m. at Myers Auditorium in McComsey Hall, 43 E. Fredrick St., Millersville.

Light refreshments will be served during intermission.

For more information, visit http://www.millersville.edu/ and look under “upcoming events.”

Originally published by Intelligencer Journal Staff.

(c) 2008 Intelligencer Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.